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If my kids are smart and they do good work, why would I want to limit their college opportunities by forcing them to go to a state school? In my state there is

If my kids are smart and they do good work, why would I want to limit their college opportunities by forcing them to go to a state school? In my state there is one really good state institution (University of Maryland, College Park), and that's how it is for many states (or there are zero good state schools). And if my kids want to do research or study engineering or computer science, it's a very good school for that, but almost every school has weaker areas (and some have none they are particularly good at). On a micro level, sure you can say maybe send your kids to cheap schools. On a macro level, college costs are getting way out of hand. Private schools should be able to serve more than the 1 percent and the really poor on full rides. I graduated 10 years ago from an elite private university. It was expensive then, but it's a complete bargain today. Prices are raising much faster than inflation. I'm trying to save a few hundred thousand for each kid for college, but in 16-18 years, that won't go that far. I'm only going to pay to send my kids to a private school if its a really good one, but I'm not going to tell them there is a whole class of schools they can't go to just because I'm cheap.

deleted 11y ago
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jeffdavis 11y ago
I live in California, so state schools are very good and can even be prestigious (Berkeley, UCLA). I'm not limiting their options. I guess if one of my children is absolutely determined to jump into big time debt to go to Harvard, I probably wouldn't stop them. But I won't destroy myself financially just because I'm afraid to explain to my children that choices have costs (list price of Harvard is something like $80k/yr). Also, my children are more different in age, so if I go broke on the first one, the next one wouldnt have the same opportunity. The choice I'm offering is really not a bad one. I'll pay something reasonable, and if they can make up the difference with work and scholarships, great. If they want to do research, they can always go to MIT for grad school. Also, by the time they go, things might be different. So many people got burned by the "go to whatever college you want, regardless of price" idea that it might shatter the prestige of any private school below ivy league. Or more people might do the first two years at CC before going to university, and that might carry less stigma.

deleted 11y ago

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jeffdavis 11y ago

I live in California, so state schools are very good and can even be prestigious (Berkeley, UCLA). I'm not limiting their options. I guess if one of my children is absolutely determined to jump into big time debt to go to Harvard, I probably wouldn't stop them. But I won't destroy myself financially just because I'm afraid to explain to my children that choices have costs (list price of Harvard is something like $80k/yr). Also, my children are more different in age, so if I go broke on the first one, the next one wouldnt have the same opportunity. The choice I'm offering is really not a bad one. I'll pay something reasonable, and if they can make up the difference with work and scholarships, great. If they want to do research, they can always go to MIT for grad school. Also, by the time they go, things might be different. So many people got burned by the "go to whatever college you want, regardless of price" idea that it might shatter the prestige of any private school below ivy league. Or more people might do the first two years at CC before going to university, and that might carry less stigma.